Publish!

It occurs to me that doctors and scientists are encouraged to, and given job time, to write and publish papers/articles in journals, etc…

I think employers should be encouraging developers/architects to release or work on open source projects, post technical articles, keep a technical blog, etc… Not only does it let developers keep up with current tech, and encourage them to learn about new things, not just making it though another 4 hours of coding up this feature change, but it also increases the prestige of the developer and the employer. This can be a big help when looking to hire additional talent.

Companies need to realize how much they would benefit from having smart, self-motivated, technical people who are up on the cutting edge of technologies, who are active in the relevant technical communities, who are sharing info with others, and learning from the info others share. That sort of culture is not only it’s own win, but allows you to lower turn-over and hire higher grade folks more easily.

One Comment

I agree completely. We just launched a tech blog at resource, which I think is a great way for us to share both internally and externally.

Sometimes I wonder if companies are still leery about associating individuals with their brand: that whole “my opinions are my own and may not reflect my employers”. Conversely, if I am a major factor in establishing the legitimacy of the tech domain at my company, and then I leave, how does that degrade the brand value?

Recently I’ve been thinking alot about the training and development of employees from within, and I think this is related. At LexisNexis, we had training budgets to the tune of ~1600/year for training or conference attendance. We then had to blog about what we got out of it (generally, internally, although I also would post it on my own site.) I believe this is a great opportunity for the company to have more engaged, useful, enthusiastic employees, and also showcases their commitment to excellence.

Not to mention, it makes a big difference (IMO) to employ people who are truly passionate about the field. It’s not just something they do to bring home a paycheck..